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Contrary to the growing chorus in a section of the media that J&K is headed for governor’s rule, the reality is the exact opposite: Mehbooba Mufti government is here to stay. And it is not only because the PDP-BJP alliance’s leaders in Srinagar and Delhi say it, on and off the record, but also because of compelling political realities.

One such overriding reality is that the PDP-BJP alliance is the most ideal ruling dispensation J&K could have under the circumstances. And far from being a bar to the hardening security response to the runaway protests in the valley, its existence disguises the toughness of the approach.

“I can authoritatively tell you that there is no threat to the coalition,” said a senior PDP leader, not wishing to be named. We will complete our term. The actual story runs counter to what some newspapers are writing.”

This perception is shared across the state, too. The utility of this coalition, the argument goes, is not only with reference to the current strife but also for its own sake. Although ideologically antithetical, the alliance is historically significant and predominantly to the political advantage of the BJP than to that of the PDP.

For one, the alliance has enabled a Hindutva party to rule India’s only Muslim majority state, something that was unthinkable until the 2014 assembly election.

J&K lies at the heart of the BJP’s nationalistic agenda. The party has always privileged assimilation of J&K into the Indian Union against the resolution of the festering political problem in the state with Pakistan, a stance that seems to have currently backfired with the valley going up in revolt following the killing of the popular militant commander Burhan Wani.

“Pulling down the J&K government would be like pulling down the Narendra Modi government and by Modi himself,” said the PDP leader. “The BJP is unlikely to be again in a position to come.